When Army veteran Geoff Hoffman came home from work on Wednesday, December 20, he was alarmed to see his front gate and front door wide open. While he had been at work, robbers had entered his home, apparently interested in his valuables at first; but in the end, all they took was his 3-year-old pit bull, Bridget. In an interview with KFOR that Hoffman did in his house, he said:
“I just want her back. I put a sign here. Take what you want but bring back my dog. That’s all I want. You can have my TV. I don’t care. Just bring back my dog.”
It took several agonizing days, but Bridget was found on the side of a rural road early in the morning on Christmas Eve. She was injured and cold, but alive.
Hoffman got on social media early and often once he realized that Bridget had been stolen, starting the social media trend #BringBridgetBack to spread information far and wide in the hopes of putting pressure on whoever stole Bridget or getting a tip from somebody who had seen her. The media picked up the story quickly. Here’s the interview Hoffman did with KFOR.
Hoffman’s description of Bridget’s condition when she was found is heartbreaking:
“She was still wearing her big pink flower collar with her name tag, but my phone number had been scratched off. She was also wrapped up in my leash, which means she was definitely stolen from my house. Unfortunately, she was not without injury. Aside from spending at least one night in below freezing conditions, she has several deep lacerations to her front left leg and her eyes were red and swollen. She was very dehydrated, had blood in her stool, and some sort of rash all over her body. The poor thing was exhausted.
She was rushed to the emergency vet clinic and I met them there. The twinkle in her eyes and the typical ever-present smile on her face were gone, but with lots of sleep tucked under the covers of my bed, a few hearty meals, and lots of tender living care, I know she will be good as new in no time. Bridget is a soul full of love and affection. Nothing will hold down her spirit of love. As exhausted, hungry, thirsty, injured, and cold as she was, even at the emergency vet, every time she saw a new person, she wanted to make friends with them.”
As a way of paying it forward to thank all the people who helped spread the word about Bridget’s disappearance, Hoffman plans to share in detail everything he did to find Bridget in the hopes that it will help somebody else if their dog goes missing. That information will be posted on Facebook under #BringBridgetBack.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help pay for Bridget’s vet bills as she recovers from her horrific ordeal.
